


Call Me

by triggeringthehealing (froggydarren)



Series: Sterek Eternal Valentine [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 10:05:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6606727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggydarren/pseuds/triggeringthehealing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The text comes in when he’s loading up the last of his bags into the car, and he’s about to head to the motel’s reception to hand in the key.</p>
<p>Prompt fill for the <a href="http://sterek-stories.tumblr.com/">Sterek Stories</a> Valentine's Day challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Call Me

**Author's Note:**

> Again, I wrote a thing kind of connected to [another prompt](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6606691) (though this stands alone too).

_ Miss you _ .

The text comes in when he’s loading up the last of his bags into the car, and he’s about to head to the motel’s reception to hand in the key. It was yet another fruitless stop, and Derek is leaving first thing in the morning, the sun barely rising. But he has to keep moving, keep tracking the trail while it even exists, and right now it’s leading him northwest. He wasn’t expecting a message, even though they do show up with no schedule to them at all, just like his own aren’t regular. Like the one he was already composing in his mind, carefully nonspecific and yet informative, keeping in touch just enough to know they’re both -- that everyone is -- still alive and fighting another day. 

Something happened, Derek knows it because of the message, and he doesn’t hesitate before he pulls up the number and dials. All he gets is a busy tone, and he disconnects and tosses the phone on the passenger seat before he makes the mistake of trying again. But after pushing the key in the ignition, he reaches for the phone again and finds the message thread. He’d been the last one to message Stiles before today, and it’s all the same vague reassurances and basic information. 

_ Call me _ , he types out, and he hesitates before tapping the button to send the text. 

Then, seconds later, he goes back to typing.

_ Whatever happened, if you need to talk, call me. I’ll be driving for the next while. _

He doesn’t know why he’s adding that comment, but it feels necessary, so he listens to his instinct and send the message. Then he starts the car and pulls out of the motel’s parking lot, bracing himself for a long drive. 

The call doesn’t come until a couple of days later, and Derek almost misses it because he’s unpacking in yet another motel. 

“Hey,” Stiles says quietly on the other end of the line. “So, sorry about the other day.”

“Why are you sorry?” Derek asks, confused by the apology, and immediately more worried.

He knows Stiles’ habit of dismissing his own problems, knows that whatever prompted Stiles to admit that he misses Derek must have been something  _ big _ . 

“I panicked, and I shouldn’t have… I didn’t want to worry you,” Stiles admits. 

“Hey, don’t apologize,” Derek says, and he sits down on the bed. “What happened?”

“So, uh,” Stiles starts, and then the background noises that Derek heard moments before get muted. 

“Are you in the hospital?” Derek asks, his mind processing the sounds. “Stiles, are you okay?”

“Yeah… well, mostly. Dad’s okay now too, I just,” there’s a pause, and a heavy sigh before Stiles takes a deep breath and continues. “I killed someone. That’s why… it was self defence, and I talked to Dad now, but when I texted you it was… Scott didn’t believe me.”

Derek listens as Stiles’ words spill like rapid fire, thoughts falling out in a way that’s reminiscent of the time just after they met. He listens as Stiles tells him about more than just the ongoing crisis, hums to let Stiles know he’s still there. And when there’s a break in Stiles’ rambling, Derek takes a deep breath and says the only thing that’s been on his mind since the text message.

“I miss you too.”

**Author's Note:**

>   
> [my tumblr](http://froggydarren.tumblr.com/) || [my sterek fic tumblr](http://triggeringthehealing.tumblr.com/)  
> 


End file.
